Finally I walked through my front door, 26hours later after embarking on my mammoth trip home from Sri Lanka.
The first thing I noticed was the huge temperature difference, crisp air and presence of snow. But then I took chance to take in my homely surroundings for a minute to realise the huge contrast from where I have come from. The street stood still, so quiet you could hear a pin drop, there was no hustle and bustle, beeping of horns or crashing waves from the ocean. I sat and thought of the people I have had pleasure to meet this trip, in particular:
Janeka and his brother Dipti (Leina) - the legendary tuk-tuk drivers who chauffeured us perfectly every day, which personally made the trip. Janeka also invited us back to his home one night, where his wife prepared an elaborate meal, including octopus curry and ceylon tea. We met the whole family which was amazing and eye opening to see the way in which others live. Janeka lives in a new property that has been built with Aid money, as his old house was destroyed in the catastrophic disaster of the Tsunami in 2004.
Harris - the Easybeach waiter who would laugh at everything. He was a saviour, not only did he bring us an abundance of toast in the morning, but he would also laugh at my jokes when nobody else in the group did (he probably didn't understand to be honest).
Sanul - a local ripper that I first met at Lazy Lefts. He would pull 360's at the drop of a hat and stick vert snaps, all on a board that you'd find hard to give away. We chatted a fair bit in the water over the trip, he'd hoot me into set waves and welcomed me to his home break Rams when I paddled out. He mentioned to me how he'd placed 6th in Sri Lanka this year, he stated how he'd lost a left fin and had been surfing this year with a centre fin there instead.
I decided to rally the boys together, where we club together a bag of goodies for him, new fins, solarez, fcs key, a T-shirt, a few mags and some bars of wax. Janeka took us to Sanul's so we could hand the bag over, I have never seen such a smile. The local ripper was beaming from ear to ear, we all felt good for it and I would like to think we've helped him out and put a good image across for us Devon surfers.
Now back at home, I'm strangely wide awake. Unsure whether it's the jet lag or the can of Relentless I downed on the way home to stay awake. Either way it was an epic trip and I'd love to go back, below are a few shots I got on the last day.
